Posted on Wed, Jun. 17, 2009   

By DEANNA BOYD
Fort Worth Star Telegram

FORT WORTH -- Former major-league baseball player Melvin Hall Jr. was sentenced to 45 years in prison Wednesday afternoon for sexually assaulting a 12-year-old girl in the late 1990s.

He was given 40 years each on three counts of aggravated sexual assault of a child and five years each on two counts of indecency with a child. The sentences will run concurrently.

Jurors had begun deliberating Hall's fate earlier Wednesday.

Prosecutors had asked the jury to sentence Hall -- who was eligible for probation -- to life in prison, saying testimony showed that he has been preying on young girls for 20 years.

“These girls, the women, will be his victims for life,” prosecutor Christy Jack told jurors just before they began deliberations at 3:15 p.m.

Read the entire article HERE.